Twin Martyrs Pavilion

Twin Martyrs Pavilion

(Photography: Li Yuesong)

In February 1927, the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Hangzhou, shaking Shanghai. The Shanghai garrison commander, Li Baozhang, acting on the orders of Sun Chuanfang, deployed machete squads to patrol day and night, assaulting innocent civilians and provoking strong resistance from all sectors of Shanghai society. At that time, Chen Liang and Chen Jun, members of the Communist Party of China from Wenzhou who were studying at Shanghai University (now East China Normal University), were filled with righteous indignation. At 6 a.m. on February 19, Chen Liang, Chen Jun, and others organized a propaganda team and a civilian rescue team to conduct outreach activities in the Caojiadu area of Shanghai. They were captured by Li Baozhang’s machete squads and taken to the police station. The following evening, they were taken to Wujiaochang in Caojiadu and bravely sacrificed their lives. On March 21, 800,000 workers in Shanghai launched the third armed uprising, which succeeded, and the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Shanghai. On March 23, the Shanghai Student Federation held a citywide student assembly and a memorial service for the deceased students and martyrs Chen Liang and Chen Jun, attended by over 5,000 people. The assembly passed a resolution to bury Chen Liang and Chen Jun alongside the martyrs of the May Fourth Movement and petitioned the municipal government to provide for the martyrs’ families. The Shanghai University Student Union published a memorial issue for the martyrs; newspapers such as Shanghai’s Shen Bao and Min Guo Ri Bao reported on the two martyrs’ courageous and unyielding struggle. When the news reached Wenzhou, people from all walks of life in Wenzhou decided to convert the Twin Loyal Shrine on Huagai Mountain into the Twin Martyrs Shrine. In September 1930, the citizens of Wenzhou erected a monument in commemoration, with the inscription “Monument Inscription for the Two Martyrs” written by Cai Yuanpei and calligraphed by Ma Gongyu. But as time passed, the Twin Martyrs Shrine faded from view.

The Twin Martyrs Pavilion is located at the northwest foot of Huagai Mountain in Lucheng District, Wenzhou. In 2006, the Wenzhou Park Management Office, responding to a proposal by a member of the Municipal Political Consultative Conference, built the Twin Martyrs Pavilion on Huagai Mountain to honor the martyrs and educate future generations. The pavilion is a rectangular, four-cornered antique-style structure, covering a total area of 196 square meters, with a built-up area of 30.5 square meters. It faces south and is open through the north and south, surrounded by wooden benches. Inside the pavilion stands a stele inscribed with “Record of the Reconstruction of the Twin Martyrs Pavilion and Monument on Huagai Mountain.”

Source: Party History Research Office of the Wenzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC